Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church

Genesis 19: 1-13

This weekend we are continuing our series from Genesis. I want to take one more week on the story of the Sodom and Gomorrah. These were the two cities that were destroyed by fire and brimstone. We don’t hear much reference to fire and brimstone like the preaching a hundred years ago. For a city to be destroyed by fire and brimstone, it must have been a pretty wicked place. What did they do wrong? What sin is so awful that God rains down fire and brimstone?

Read Genesis 19:1-13.

Most of us have heard some reference to “fire and brimstone.” I recently went on line to look up references to “fire and brimstone.” I found an engaging website that answers Bible questions. It was interesting to read questions young people are asking about Bible topics. One youth asked what was with Christians using “fire and brimstone” to scare people away from bad things and into good behavior. The writer commented that if preachers really wanted to motivate young people to be good, they should threaten youth with really scary stuff like “fire and algebra.”

This weekend we are looking further into the famous story where God destroyed two cities—Sodom and Gomorrah—by raining down fire and brimstone. The Bible does not tell us much about the city of Gomorrah. Instead the story revolves around Lot, Abraham’s nephew, living in the city of Sodom.

Last week we reviewed the basics of the story. Sodom was an evil city. It was so evil that God rained down fire and brimstone. Lot was given enough warning to flee the city before the burning sulpher rained down and destroyed it. He and his family fled to a nearby town. His wife, hesitating to look back at the prosperous lifestyle they were losing, was punished by being turned into a pillar of salt. All of this happened along the edge of the Dead Sea.

The story invites us to wonder, what was so evil that it deserved this kind of destruction? What was Sodom’s sin? The answer is somewhat surprising. The sin of Sodom was inhospitality.

In a preview to this story, Abraham welcomed and hosted three spiritual visitors. He did not know that these were two angels and the Lord. While they were thanking Abraham and blessing him, the visitor lets it slip that Abraham’s hospitality was a stark contrast to what they had heard about the wicked city of Sodom. In fact, according to the visitors, God was considering destroying the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Abraham is concerned when he realizes that the impending doom of the city means the death of his nephew Lot. Abraham asks for clarification. When he hears how sinful and evil this city is, he negotiates with the Lord. “Wouldn’t you spare the entire city if you found fifty righteous people?” As soon as the Lord says, “Yes,” Abraham pushes for a lower number, “What about only forty righteous?” By the end of this negotiation, Abraham has convinced the Lord to spare the city for the sake of ten good people. The entire city will be spared if the Lord finds ten righteous people in the city. With this negotiation completed, the Lord sends two angels to Sodom to see if there are ten good people in the entire city.

When the angels arrive, nobody offers to host them. What a contrast with Abraham who welcomed a stranger to his tent and fed him. Finally, Lot and his family host the angels. The rest of the city of Sodom gathered outside Lot’s door calling out that they wanted to hurt the visitors (who were really angels). Lot tried to reason with them not to hurt the visitors. He reminds them of the common code of civility that involves hospitality to visitors. They want nothing to do with it. They want to hurt the visitors. As soon as the angels conclude that there are not even ten righteous people in the city, they warn Lot and his family to flee the city before it is destroyed. “Don’t even look back, just run for your lives.” Apparently, Lot’s wife wanted one last look at the beautiful home and prosperous lifestyle they had in the city, and she receives her own punishment by becoming a pillar of salt left to stand near the Dead Sea through the ages. The story ends with fire and brimstone raining down to destroy the city.

What can we learn from this story?

There are three strands of interpretation that the rest of the Bible gives this Bible story of fire and brimstone. The first is that this story is used as an example of sudden, unexpected destruction. Jesus referred to this story as an example of God’s sudden judgment (Luke 17:28-35). Jesus said his return would catch people off guard just as the destruction of Sodom did. The people of Sodom were doing all the normal things the day before. They were going to the store and shopping. Families ate dinner that evening. Then suddenly the city was gone. Jesus used the destruction of Sodom as a way to warn us that it is easy to become satisfied and complacent, too concerned about the matters of this life without remembering the eternal life.

As followers of Jesus we believe that this life on earth is a tiny portion of eternity. We live here less than a hundred years and then spend more than a hundred million years in eternity. It is easy, however, to become so caught up in the matters of this life and forget the lessons we are learning to prepare us for eternity. We worry about the scratch on the car and forget to listen to the child in the car seat. We raise our voice to those we love most. We get caught up in daily crises that won’t matter a million years from now.

Jesus reminds us that the people of Sodom were doing all the normal things of life one minute and suddenly gone the next. The destruction of Sodom reminds us that life is too short to fret over the little things. Years ago, I came across a Mennonite blessing prayer for a bride and groom. It goes like this: “Grant them a sense of values so that they may remember to care for people more than possessions. Grant them the ability to keep their priorities straight so that they may care for your acceptance more than the world’s approval….”

This ancient story of sudden destruction is no different from our own stories from the twin towers in New York City on 9-11. How many people in the towers on 9-11 made their last phone call to their stock broker? How many of us promised over the next week that we would spend more time with family and declare our love more regularly to each other? Sudden destruction reminded us all that life is fragile and too short. But as the years go by it is easy to forget our priorities. The ordinary things of life distract us from what is eternally important. Are we like Sodom?

The second strand of interpretation of this fire and brimstone story is indeed the strongest and shows up the most often throughout the Bible. Ezekiel gave the clearest statement of this strand of interpretation. He said that the sin of the city of Sodom was that they lived in prosperous ease and did not care for the poor and needy (Ezekiel 16:49). The Bible calls this “inhospitality.”

Notice the contrast created between Abram’s hospitality to the two strangers—angels—and the inhospitality of the city of Sodom. Abram serves a meal to these total strangers, but the people of Sodom want to hurt the visitors. He listens to their stories at the table, but the city shouts down any reasonable conversation. The people of the city of Sodom want what they want. They want to use others, not care for others need.

Jesus referred to Sodom when he sent his own twelve disciples town to town. Jesus told the disciples to bless the town when they first arrived. But if the town refused to welcome them then they were to shake the dust off their feet and it would be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for those who rejected the disciples (Matthew 10:15). In another teaching of Jesus we see him comparing the city of Capernaum to Sodom (Matthew 11:23, 24). Capernaum was the most prosperous trade city of Galilee. Jesus used Sodom’s fate to warn Capernaum of the danger of becoming self-satisfied and unconcerned about those less fortunate.

When we realize that this story of fire and brimstone is a story of people living well off who refused to show compassion for others, it forces us to define the sin of inhospitality more broadly. Inhospitality is an unwillingness to open our lives to the pain of others. If this is inhospitality, then hospitality is the ability to connect our lives with other’s pain. Hospitality comes down to listening and sharing in the pain. Our Stephen’s Ministers are trained in the fine art of hospitality. They learn how to enter other’s pain and stay connected with a neighbor for the long run beyond the immediate tragedy.

Are we practicing hospitality? We caught a glimpse of what hospitality looks like Monday night when we hosted a second community prayer service for Chelsea King. As we prepared for the prayer service we were very aware that many of those attending were not religious people connected with our church or any church. We wanted it to be intentionally a community gathering, not an us (Christians) and them (non-religious). Expecting quite a few students, we asked our youth ministry team to share the leadership of this prayer event. So during that service we had some of our youth leaders take turns reading Bible passages. People sat in prayer, wrote prayers on cards, and every two minutes or so a youth leader would come to the microphone to read a Bible passage.

Near the end of the service, one of our youth leaders stepped to the microphone to read from Isaiah 40. It is that wonderful passage that ends with the words, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

The church youth leader’s voice cracked as she started to read. Then tears ran down her cheeks. Then she started to sob while she tried to keep reading. She paused to catch her breath and then couldn’t go on. I was closest to her. I guess I could have stepped in to help her finish or read the passage for her. But to be honest I was okay with the rawness and reality of the moment. We didn’t need to finish that passage. It was the thought.

Then an amazing thing happened. A member of Chelsea’s family rushed forward to help. I don’t know if this family has any religious connection. The family member opened the Bible back up and said, “Let’s read it together.” Chelsea’s family member read part of a line and then paused to invite the church youth to continue. “The Lord is the everlasting God.” “The Creator of the ends of the earth,” read the shaky, tear-filled youthful voice.” They continued line by line taking turns. Near the end they joined in the reading together. “They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.”

I caught a glimpse of Jesus at that moment. He had tears in his eyes, but he was smiling and nodding his head.